1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the capturing of the energy contained in a combination of coastal waves and wind, as well as in a combination of streamflows and wind.
2. Background
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant U.S. Patents
Pat. No.Date of PatentPatentee3,687,567Apr. 29, 1972 William C. Lininger4,319,454Mar. 16, 1982Louis V. Lucia4,392,060Jul. 5, 1983Jessie T. Ivy4,719,754Jan. 19, 1988 Kochi Nishikawa5,005,357Apr. 9, 1991Mansel F. Fox5,244,359Sep. 14, 1993David M. Slonim5,549,445Aug. 27, 1996 Edward J. Schremp6,109,863Aug. 29, 2000Larry D. Milliken6,269,636Aug. 7, 2001Constantinos Hatzilakos6,559,552May 6, 2003Siu Kwong Ha7,327,049Feb. 5, 2008Ron Hamburg4,447,740May 1984Heck, Louis J.4,467,218August 1984Andruszkiw et al4,818,888April 1989Lenoir, III, James L.4,661,716April 1987Chu, Chun T.3,746,875July 1973Donatelli, Joseph6,194,791February 2001Wells, Alan Arthur7,963,112June 2011Joseph, Erat S.
Past inventions have utilized essentially the following devices to capture energy from ocean waves, streamflows and wind: water wheels, wind wheels, and floats. Water wheels and wind wheels are designed to rotate, while floats are designed to move up and down on the water surface. Wave energy can be derived from the up and down motion of deep sea waves or from the flow of water in the wave-swash zone or in a stream. This invention utilizes the kinetic energy contained in wave-swash or in streamflow combined with the energy contained in wind.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,567, U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,754, U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,357, U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,359, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,863 do not utilize the force of wind to extract power.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,454, U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,060, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,636 B1, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,327,049 B2, utilize only floats to extract energy. They do not utilize the action of water wheel or the force of wind to generate power.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,552 B1, is designed to capture energy from rain, wind, wave, and solar. It utilizes a water wheel and a wind wheel. The description states, “The turntable is rotated on bearings over a fixed-horizontal base plate, until the set-up is facing the wind and waves directly to the best advantage.” One of the deficiencies of the apparatus is due to the fact that the directions of wind and wave do not necessarily match, and while the horizontal-axis wind wheel will not work unless its orientation changes to face the wind, a water wheel will not work unless it faces water flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,445 utilizes sea going platforms, wind energy conversion, and subsurface wave energy removing means. It is not designed for operation in the wave-swash zone.
None of the above mentioned patents includes any device to assist in the retention of angular momentum for maintaining sustained rotational energy.
None of the above mentioned patents includes any device that has the versatility to operate in wave-swash as well as in streamflows and thereby harness energy in waves as well as in streamflows.
Among nature's energy sources, wind, sea waves, and streamflows are prominent. Despite the fact that abundant energy is available in sea waves, flowing streams, and in wind, capturing of this energy economically from these sources remains a technological challenge.
One of the major drawbacks of wind mill technology lies in its very low capacity factor—the ratio of the power actually produced to the power that would have been produced if the turbines operated 100% of the time. Wind stops frequently, and consequently, standard wind mills typically have a capacity factor of only about 35%. Standard wind mills are huge in size, and are economically not feasible. One of the difficulties faced by wave turbine technology is due to the periodic nature of the occurrence of the waves and the resulting variability of torque produced by wave turbines. The present invention addresses these problems.